Animagus
Joined: Jul 24, 2007
Posts: 119
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 Posted: July 26, 2007 10:36 am Post subject: |
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Making a computer game out of a plot device is a process fraught with danger. I've had to do it, so trust me, I know. So for me, having worked as a game designer, it's a professional question that I have a hard time not trying to resolve, though I'm speaking about Rowling's game rather than any programmed version of it.
There are some eseential problems with Quidditch as a game. Some are easily resolved - the constant danger from death by falling requires an automatic slow-fall magic talisman if a rider gets seperated from their broom, or several dedicated wand-wavers watching for accidents. From Rowling's standpoint, she wants that sense of danger, and so she works around it from a specific case standpoint rather than a sport concept standpoint. But that's rather minor.
The essential design of Quidditch is to aggrandize Harry's part in a wizarding version of team sports that us muggles (readers) can relate to, and it serves its function within that context. As a concept for a sport, it is extremely flawed. The game is virtually always won by the team with the better seeker - the rest of the team (well, maybe not a timely bludger strike) are minor support. Rowling describes games that have gone on for days - highly impractical for all but professional teams (certainly not for students who would have to go to class). But generally speaking, one team has to be overwhelming superior for the game to be decided by conventional goals.
However, only one element needed to be added to fix Rowling's concept as a game (rather than as a plot device): A time limit. As it stands, the game ends when the snitch is caught, guarenteeing that 150 point swing, and simultaneously requiring a 15 conventional goal lead for them to mean anything. If the game can end without that 150 points, suddenly the conventional goal becomes important. Teams can choose to go for a snitch strategy or a quaffle strategy, seeker neutralization or increasing desperation to get the snitch as time ticks down.
An alternate would be a team wins when X number of conventional goals are achieved before the snitch is caught. Both of these would leave the sudden-death nature of the snitch being caught left intact, but bring more balance and interest to the game as a whole. |
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